Deliberate contamination or disruption of the nation's food supply represents a distinct vulnerability, one requiring effective, coordinated strategies to guard against and respond to threats or incidents of bioterrorism. Critical capabilities include rapid identification of potential contaminants, accurate and credible risk-communication messaging to the public, and swift implementation of an effective public health response. Perhaps in no other area is collaboration among industry, government, and academia more crucial.
CIDRAP's biosecurity efforts, supported by a grant from NTI, have focused on three key areas: bringing together the many parties involved in farm-to-table food delivery to identify unmet needs and devise effective prevention and response strategies; providing comprehensive Web-based information; and delivering targeted biosecurity training programs.
